The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-10-13
THE CRIMSON SCARF.
New York Times.
"How old did you say?" asked the
commander-in-chie

HOW OH uIu you say! dSAcu tuo
commander-in-chief.
Nineteen"
"And the man?"
IA little older"
The commander-in-chief pulled his
cigar at thoughtful intervals. The
war was by twenty-five years thing
of the past, but as head OF great
commercial enterprise military title
still clung to him from out of his war
experience, and he did not dislikeit,
for some of his war memories appear
ed to be his most cherished mental
treasures. So he debated with his ci-
gar over the two young people whose
sentimental rashness had brought
them into public notice, and as he de-
bated he was looking backward over
the diverse panorama OF two decades
of life, through the rifted smoke clouds
of great rebellion at little drama
that seemed almost dream, but
which to him was, perhaps, tn g best
remembered incident of all the five
years fight. And when he told it,
half musingly, the listeners did not
wonder. The ways of fate are very
diverse, and it sometimes happens to
the least imaginative in the madden
ing crowd that a face which is looked
into only for q moment is never for
gotten in all the length of the years
that follow. Perhaps it is SO with the
commandments Perhaps not. In
any eventsnobody dared to ask.
ain the fall of l863," he began, II
was stationed with detachment at
Paint Rock, Ala. We were
drawing on the enemy for supplies;
foraging, in fact. Our crackers
and hard task we got from Stevenson,
but for fodder for our horses, and
anything to add sumptuous to the
appearance of the frying pan we had
to depend on the country. For some
weeks l had sent out the wagon train
to the east and southeast, and down
the valley of the Paint Rock creek.
The only direction lett for investiga-
tion was the west, where, at distance
of FL miles, was Huntsville, then the
capital OF northern Alabama, which,
up to the time of the war, had been a
wealthy. aristocratic and fashionable
city. Well, one pleasant morning l
sent the wagons across the creek and
followed them with a guard of twenty
men. 1t was reported from time to
time that the country ahead of us
was full of rebel guerrillas, but we saw
no signs of them, and for two months
ho1 tro,,h1a nh nj xry1tk MY
foe.
"After crossing the creek the wagons
took a road which wound along the
foot of q spur at the Blue Ridge mount
aims, which rose green, heavily wood
ed, and picturesque at our backs. We
passed several small clearings and
plantations, whose log houses were
filled with hot-blooded and hot-tem.
pered Southern women, whose evident
desire to fay us with their fingernails
rather interfered with that spirit OF
hospitality for which the South is
famous. At distance OF seven miles
I halted the detachment at cool,
but sinister-looking place in the road,
known to all the country round about
as the Gap
The Gap was the entrance to a
pass through one of the outlying
mountain spurs. It was deep hol-
low, heavily wooded. The dense
growth of towering pines and frs
grew close to the roadside. The
woody spaces were so filled with un.
dergrowth and blocked by fallen trees
that as you peered into the dark re
cesses of the forest on either side a
hostile army might have been shelter
ed there with out your being able to
perceive a button. | remember the
looks of the place because the first
time / saw it it made me rather un
easy, and the last time but one that
saw it came near staying three fol
good, as did, in fact, some other poor
fellows who were not-so fortunate.
"Well, after a rest, we kept on, and
few miles further we came to a plan
tation of 75O acres, with a large and
comfortable looking residence neal
the roadside. The wagons had
reached there long before us. They
were being rapidly filled from row o.
well stored corncribs at the back o
the house. Ihad just gotten off my
horse near the door when two girls
came toward me-and if were not
telling this story, gentlemen, / would
honestly declare that they were the
two prettiest girls I ever saw in my
life.
"They were both tall and slender
with graceful and womanly figures
They were dressed in dark blue calico
and had no artificial aids to theil
fresh beauty. Their faces were intelli
gent and full of resolution, yet mark
ed by that shyness which belongs te
girls who are we'll born and bred in
comparative seclusion. The elder. El
len, was dark-eyed and dark-haired
Addie was II, two years younger thar
her sister, and q yellow-haired an0
blue-eyed blonde. The apparitior
| they presented astonished us.
think all the men took off their hats
instinctively. / know l did. And as
my hat was q real Mexican sombrero
and matched the long Mexican spurs
that jingled on my heels, was rather
fond of keeping it on my head.
"It was Ellen who spoke, the othel
staying little behind. Sir, she sale
in troubled voice, you look like 8
gentleman. One OF your men has
taken our guitar. It is all that w
have left, and it is agreat consolation
Will you not be good enough to have
| it returned?"
sThe guitar was returned to hel
forthwith as quickly as the the mar
| could be found who had it
She was profuse in her thanks, and tn.
light in the younger sisters eyes al
| the salvation Of the instrument indi
Gated how highly it was valued. Tht
corn and supplies they did not appear
to Qrieve over particularly, as | pre-
vented any destruction Of the cribs OF
any unnecessary damage to the prop
erty. Consequently ! was very hos
| pitably received in the house
The family consisted OF an ole
gentleman named Sunderland, his
wife and three daughters. Sunderland
was a well-to-do planter, though moi
too old to take arms. He was doc
tor by. profession and q Methodist
preacher by choice. His family circle
was in it's refinement and the beauty
the girls, something. particularly